STUDENTS WEAVE WEB OF SUCCESS

Peering intently at their computer screens, Mike Rooney and Andrew Peterson are laying out a Web page for a small-business client.

Standing over them, project supervisor Ed Yosh critiques the light-blue logo on the screen Peterson has crafted for the page, suggesting a tweak here and there.

The two Portland High School seniors are among a dozen students enrolled in an innovative technical-education program that has drawn praise from inside and outside the state.

Begun 11 years ago, the tech-ed partnership with the town of Portland has evolved into a learning laboratory in which students not only get practical experience -- in Web design, computer systems operation and desktop publishing -- but make money, too.

The best students are exposed to more challenging projects such as commercial Web work. Some even get a shot at good-paying summer jobs with the town.

The program also benefits the town, with students doing everything from printing the town's annual report to maintaining its Web site.

Indeed, the partnership with the town, along with the commercial aspects, observers say, appears to make the program the only one of its kind in the state.

"This is something no other town does," said Dave Kuzminski, the town's technology coordinator. "People come up and are amazed and want to know, 'How do you get this done."'

Although the program began with electronic mapping for the town water department, about four years ago students branched into the Web.

Today, they host and maintain more than 25 websites. The students generate between $6,000 and $7,000 a year from their commercial projects, said Yosh, who has been the program's instructor for six years.

The reputations of both the program and students have grown such that businesses are clamoring for their services now.

Video producer John Clark of Middletown recently consulted the board of selectmen about the opportunity to promote the tech-ed partnership to his clients, many of whom want Web pages but have limited budgets.

Clark has also hired the students to design a site for his firm, Leslie Multi-Media Inc.

The edge the Portland students have, he says, is that while they are as competent as commercial Web designers, their fees are a fraction of the competition. An $800 site designed by the students would cost several thousand dollars at a commercial firm, he says.

Haddam builder Michael Arduini paid the tech-ed program about $800 to design a website showcasing models of the modular houses he sells. Commercial designers quoted prices from $2,000 to $3,000 for the same work.

"These kids have talents that no one gives them credit for," Arduini said.

The fruits of the program are evident in the computer tech-ed classroom.

A 26- by 32-foot room on the school's ground level is crammed with some of the latest computer and electronic hardware, much of it funded by students' commercial projects.

Though the town budgets $18,440 a year to the program, all the money students generate from their commercial work is plowed back into paying for new hardware, software, and training to use it.

"Otherwise we wouldn't have all this equipment," Yosh said.

In one corner sits a $7,500 digital plotter that was donated to the program. Students recently used it to update the town assessor's maps. In another corner is a $2,000 portable "smart board," resembling a white chalkboard, that enables pupils to interact with what they see on a personal computer.

A handful of laptop computers was purchased recently for students to use when they are calling on clients.

Students say they are drawn by the program's creative flexibility.

Peterson, 17, enrolled as a sophomore to prepare to study computer engineering in college.

"I like the ability to be involved in designing websites," says Peterson, adding he has worked on eight or nine sites.

Peterson's skills last summer won him a spot among a half-dozen students paid upward of $11.50 an hour using computers on town projects, such as creating the school calendar.

Rooney, a 17-year-old senior, started in the program as a freshman. His eyes are on a broadcasting career, but his involvement with computers, he says, will allow him to pursue them as a secondary career.

Indeed, many more students want to enroll, but scheduling is difficult. School officials are working on a solution to accommodate more, Yosh said.

Greg Kane, who coordinates technology-education curriculums for the state Department of Education, says the Portland program is an example of the kind of transferable skills state educators want to promote in today's students.

The program, he adds, is merely an extension of the graphic-arts and printing curriculum once taught high school students.

The application of elements of color and design scale are pretty much the same, Kane says, the only difference being "they're using the medium [computers] of today."

Gary Duprey, director of technology services for the Capitol Region Education Council, of which Portland is a member, said hundreds of kids in the state hone their computer skills each year in tech-ed programs.

But none, Duprey says, are involved at the level of Portland's program.

Boosting pupils' computer literacy, he said, will be vital whether they design Web pages for a living, or move on to become doctors, lawyers or other professionals.

Yosh agrees with those benefits, and points to others.

"I win because I get equipment to use for the program," he said. "The kids win because they get the advantage of using the new technology.

"And the clients win because they're getting jobs done at a reasonable [cost] and the jobs are very high quality."